Rogue Trooper. created by Gerry Finlay Day and Dave Gibbons. Copyright Rebellion.
Above: Helm does a little Christmas shopping.
More Millicom memories is intended as a follow up story and homage to writer/creator Gerry Finlay-Days Rogue Trooper story 'Milli-com memories' first published in 2000AD Progs 318-322.
During March 2014 I decided to contact Dave Evans and Richmond Clements. Many of you reading this post will know them as the editorial team behind 2000ad Fanzines 'Zarjaz' and Dogbreath'. I wanted to ask them if they would be open to the idea of teaming up for this years 2000AD advent calendar. Both agreed that it sounded like good fun and said yes.
All of us were very busy and so after a few months of nudging the project along via the occasional email message I received a finished script from Richmond on the 27th May. I was busy working on another comic strip for Dogbreath at the time and so couldn't start the artwork straight away. However I did manage to produce the rough page layouts which can be seen below and sent them to Dave and Richmond by June 10th. With the rough page layouts Dave Evans could get an idea of how he was going to layout the lettering and Richmond could see if I was telling his story correctly.
I started he finished artwork on July 1st and managed to finished penciling and inking all 13 pages by August. I sent the finished inks to Dave Evans who could now start the finished lettering. I had to work on a few more comic projects and so couldn't start colouring the pages until mid-September, finally finishing them mid-October.
Dave added the lettering to the finished artwork by October the 21st and emailed us the results. I loved the finished lettering. Dave had seen the IDW Rogue Trooper word balloons and decided to use similar/same color coding for the word balloons of Rogue and the Bio-chips. This in turn helped the reader to understand who was talking in some of the more visually complex pages.
Not only did Dave do a great job on the lettering he also put together a PDF comic of Rogue Trooper 'More Millicom memories'for you to download and read. PDF Link.
I would like to thank Dave and Richmond for all their hard work which made the completion of this project possible.
Above: After reading the script two or three times I draw rough thumbnail sketches of the panels on each page. At this point in the process I am not worried about page layout or design. I am just interested in putting down the essence of each panel.
Above: Rogue thumbnail sketches showing various tank designs. The centre sketch is based on a Rogue Trooper tank design by Dave Gibbons.
Above: Rough page layout for the first page featuring a big splash panel of Rogue running towards the reader narrowly avoiding the explosion behind him. The page also holds the title logo and credits.
Above: Finished pencils based on the previous rough page layout. I changed Rogues pose slightly to show that the force of the explosion has hit him in the middle of his back. This in turn has pushed his chest out and lifted him off his feet slightly.
Above: Fully coloured page artwork with out the lettering. The splash page has been designed to hopefully make the reader wonder who or what is shooting at Rogue.
Above: Rough page layout for page one, with the first panel showing the reader exactly what Rogue is running away from.
Above: Finished page pencils for page two.
Above: Fully coloured page two artwork and sfx with out the lettering. Note the page colour scheme, which will be used each time the story cuts back to the present.
Above: Rogue page layout for page two.
Above: Finished pencils for page three which introduces the reader to the first of three stories looking back to the days when Rogue, Helm, Gunnar and Bagman were training back at Millicom before the Quartz massacre.
Above: Fully coloured page three artwork and sfx without the lettering. Note the new page colour scheme.
Above: Page four rough page layout.
Above: Finished pencils for page four.
Above: Finished page four artwork.
Above: Page five rough layout and the last page of the first flashback story.
Above: Page five finished pencils.
Above: Page five finished artwork with sfx.
Above: Page layout for page six.
Above: Finished pencils for page six.
Above: Fully coloured page six artwork. Note the colour scheme for the first panel which is set in the present. The rest of the panels have a different look/colour meant to represent a Virtual Reality training facility in Millicom for the second flashback story.
Above: Rough page layout for page seven.
Above: Finished pencils for page seven.
Above: Fully coloured finished art for page seven with sfx.
Above: Page layout for page eight.
Above: Finished pencils for page eight.
Above: Fully coloured page eight art with sfx. Note the different coloured arm bands and I.D. markings to help the reader work out the two teams and individual characters shown in this page.
Above: Rough page layout for page nine.
Above: Finished pencils for page nine.
Above: Fully coloured page nine artwork. Once again note the colour scheme for the first panel is set in the present. The rest of the panels have a different look/colour for the third flashback story.
Above: Rough page lout for page ten.
Above: Finished pencils for page ten.
Above: Fully coloured and finished artwork for page ten.
Above: Rough page layouts for page eleven.
Above: Finished pencils for page eleven.
Above: Fully coloured page eleven artwork. This is also the last page of the third and final flashback
story.
Above: Rough page layout for page twelve.
Above: Finished pencils for page twelve.
Above: Fully coloured finished page art for page tweleve.
Above: Page thirteen rough layouts.
Above: Finished page thirteen pencils. Note the stronger angle for the third panel depicting the exploding tank which has been changed from the rough page layouts.
Above: Finished fully coloured artwork for the last page.
Rogue Trooper. created by Gerry Finlay Day and Dave Gibbons. Copyright Rebellion.
Buy official Rogue Trooper stories from the Rebellion online shop http://shop.2000adonline.com/categories/rogue_trooper
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